Speed and effort

[Cubist]

Wednesday, the speed you describe is a great average considering all the factors. Others have made much about the bike, the purpose of the journey, topography, traffic etc etc.

Why are you cycling? If it's for fun then as long as you are enjoying it then fine. To increase fitness you need to bear several factors in mind. Firstly your endurance has improved. You can sustain the same level of effort over much longer distance. If you rate this as 4 then you clearly have a personal benchmark. You say you feel pushed to maintain an effort level of six, but notice only a small percentage increase in speed. The figures you quote aren't insignificant if you can vary a journey like yours by up to 10 minutes! Therefore I would argue that you haven't appreciated just how much fitter you have become.

Try deliberately riding at effort level five for the next ride or two. In order to gain in fitness you must put the body under an amount of load, as it has become accustomed to your effort level four. A ride or two at five will soon raise your fitness so that that speed feels like level four again. Then it's time to add to it. In order to make further gains you HAVE to work harder for longer, but when you do you WILL be rewarded for it.

Keep an eye on what you eat. Garbage in garbage out is more than just a catch-phrase. Keep your protein levels high, you have a lot of muscle repair and growth to do if you want to cycle harder and faster, and eat sufficient carbs to fuel you for the rides, but don't overdo them.

Trust me, your charity ride will be very well accomplished if you average 10mph with your kit.

 

[Klaus]

I am ok to admit my average is 10 - 12 mph.
I am 53 and have cycled for about 18 months after a long absence.

My bike ("Citybike") weighs 17 kg (!) and I live in a very hilly area (Chilterns).
My serious rides (about 25-30 miles) are only at weekends.

I also keep an old bike at work and schedule permitting I have a ride of 6 mies about twice or three times a week, during my lunchtime.
Some might think this is rubbish - I am very smug about it - I feel fitter than I have ever been and my weight has been static at 85 kg over the past 18 months.

As was pointed out we cycle for all sorts of reasons.

 

[pepecat]

My 'default' speed is around 10-12 mph - that's without pushing myself really and just enjoying the ride instead. I ride a road bike, so I'm not particularly fit or fast.
I do want to improve though, so I did a 7 mile loop as fast as i could ( and intend to keep doing this so that i can get my average speed up), and i managed around 15mph average. If you put the effort in, you'll get faster. If you just want to amble about and enjoy yourself, then you'll be slower. And, as others have said, if you push yourself again and again, your body will get used to it and your average speed with go up.

 

[User16625]

Has anyone else ever had an average of speed of 10mph-ish? This is what I've heard as a beginner's speed elsewhere, but here it seems unheard of to go that slow even if you've just bought your first bike. Anyway, that's where I am, 10 point something. Maybe 11 if I was recording moving time only.

When I started riding 2x 13.5 miles once a week (at the beginning of spring) I thought I'd get faster, but I didn't really, only about 5 minutes. It got easier very quickly though, so I tried to remember to push harder on days when I didn't have plans in the evening, and that made... about 5 minutes difference. If there's a headwind one way and a tailwind the other, there's about 10 minutes difference between journeys. Nothing really changes my speed!

I think my natural effort for cycling is about a 4 (I'd rate walking 2), and when I try to push harder it's still only about 6 (and only when I remember), so maybe I need to push harder? It doesn't sound like fun to sustain effort like that for hours at a time though. And then there's things about being able to comfortably have a conversation, which sounds like you shouldn't be pushing too hard. I don't have anyone to talk to but I can't sing more than a few lines unless I'm going downhill. I suppose that takes more breath though.

Sorry this is quite disjointed. I'd like to know how much effort you put in when you ride, and does it become natural to go faster? Should I be trying to work on speed somehow, or just keep doing miles and hope it works out?

Dont know about speed worked out from time over distance but my speed on a mountain bike is about 12mph on a flat. Rough guess tho coz I never used a speedo on a mountain bike before. On a road bike a speedo indicates that im comfortable doing about 18 mph. Type of bike makes a massive difference.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

If you average 10 mph over your 80 mile ride, I'd be fairly certain you'll be in a decent sized group getting to the other end.

Amen to that.

 

[Wednesday]

Good to hear the low speeds, although I'd consider getting my average up to 12mph not too bad. I don't think gears are holding me back since I like to feel some resistance. I'm trying to get more spinny since reading about cadence, but I do move up a gear when my feet are moving fast to see how it feels.

My goal is to enjoy the charity ride, so I want to have a comfortable pace that'll get me to camp in time for dinner. I should talk to the organisers about this though, I was just getting worried thinking everyone cycled faster than me.

I think I'm going to start pushing myself up Ditchling Beacon since it's easy for me to get to and not scary road-wise. That'll be good for my climbing which should improve my overall speed, but does hill training also help with power on the flat?

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Hill training helps you to climb hills and makes the legs stronger. Speed comes from riding as fast as you can for a short bursts (interval training as has been mentioned). Spinning is not necessarily the best way to gain speed.

 

[Wednesday]

I'll look out for a friendly bit of road to go fast on, then. (I feel a bit nervous thinking about putting in high effort while having to think about other road users.)